Why Kendra is Still on Dancing with the Stars

Kendra grates on many viewers' nerves. If you read online forums such as Television Without Pity, you'll see a near-unanimous wall of opinion - people want Kendra to get off of their television screens.

And yet she is still there.

She seems to take no joy in dancing. Her movements are tight, her face grim. She whines during rehearsal. She doesn't know how to take criticism gracefully, and she makes the huge mistake of talking back to the judges.

And yet Sugar Ray Leonard, who was far more charming, and Petra Nemcova, who was a far more graceful dancer, were voted off before she was.

Why?

I have a theory.

I think what Kendra brings to the show is the potential for drama. DWTS is often simply fun and lighthearted entertainment, but what gives it its kick (and, most likely, its longevity) are the frequent dramas of redemption, the story lines of celebrities who came to the show and were transformed by doing ballroom.

While it's a pleasure to watch a figure skater become an agile dancer, there's not much element of surprise there. There's a different, special pleasure in watching a football player or a wrestler put on top hat and tails and glide across the ballroom, because those athletes are playing against type, and often discovering talents they had no idea they possessed.

Even more dramatic is when faded former celebrities gain new confidence, reshaped bodies and reenergized careers, all from being on the show.

DWTS and its viewers love these stories of transformation and redemption, and the show plays them. up.

I believe the reason that Kendra got more votes than Sugar Ray and Petra is because she is someone badly in need of ballroom transformation. Sugar Ray is gracious and charming, and an enthusiastic, if not particularly skillful dancer. That wouldn't have changed, no matter how long he stayed on the show. Petra is a lovely person inside and out, and an elegant, though unexciting dancer. That too would be unlikely to change. Without change, there is no drama.

Kendra is ripe for change. She comes across as hardened and coarse. And yet, we can sense that there is a lot more to her, buried inside. Carrie Ann got it exactly right when she said that Kendra seems to be afraid of being elegant.

If Kendra were to blossom during the course of the show, if ballroom dancing got her in touch with her inner elegance, that would be a wonderful ugly-duckling-grows-into-a-swan story, the kind of story that has universal and timeless appeal.

Beneath the annoying surface, Kendra appears to be someone who is in considerable psychological pain. How magical it would be if she could be healed by ballroom.

That's why I think she has been getting as many votes as she has. People - enough people, at least, to keep her there so far - want to see the rest of her redemption story arc.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how much Kendra annoys you), we will probably never find out the end of this story. While Kendra manged to stay on past Sugar Ray and Petra, there is a limit to how much longer she can hang on - and that limit may be now. Chances are she will be voted off this coming week, and if not then, then almost certainly the week after.

So if she is going to embrace her inner lady, let's hope she does it soon, while we still have a chance to watch.